Valentine: Youk's 'issues' preceded me

Thu, 12/13/2012 - 9:59am — Kirk Minihane

Former Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine spoke[1] to Joel Sherman of the New York Post on Thursday about the additon of Kevin Youkilis to the Yankees. Valentine was asked about his relationship with Youkilis, which many believe was severly injured after Valentine told WHDH-TV's Joe Amorosino last April that he didn't think Youkilis was "as physically or emotionally into the game as he has been in the past for some reason."

Valentine disputes the notion that he and Youkilis had clashed, instead telling Sherman that the real problems were those stemming from the historic Red Sox collapse in 2011, including the belief that some players felt Youkilis was a source to Bob Hohler in the Boston Globe story[2] that implicated Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and John Lackey with drinking beer and eating fried chicken in the clubhouse during games.

“All of his issues in Boston well preceded me,” Valentine said. “Look at the innocuous things I said. Those weren’t the issues. They were made to be. It wasn’t a good fit there and he got to go somewhere else. I don’t think it is more complicated than that.”